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Alternate Timeline
In the ''Dragon Ball'' manga and the anime series Dragon Ball Z, several alternate timelines are shown to exist. Shown below are the specific timelines and their specific events. A number beside a characters name indicates which dimension (what timeline they are from); if there is no number be side the characters name, that means that they are from the dimension (timeline) the description is under. Time machine generated timelines The timelines were unchained because of a time machine. As the androids 17 and 18 killed all the heroes and the Z Fighters of Earth, Bulma created a time machine to send Future Trunks to the past to prevent Goku from dying, to warn the Z Fighters about the future android thread, and to find a way to stop the androids in the future world (either a way to deactivate the androids or a way to destroy them, maybe even taking Goku to Future Trunks's timeline). It should be noted that, in the universe of Dragon Ball, one does not have to directly interfere with a timeline to disrupt it. Simply by nature of going back in time at all, various random changes were made to the timeline. For example, Androids 19 and 20 came first, despite any explanation for why they would, and Androids 17 and 18 are also inexplicably stronger than Future Trunks remembers. Therefore, even if a time traveler follows a "look but don't touch" policy, they risk changing history. Timeline 1: Main This is the main timeline in which the Dragon Ball series takes place and ultimately leads to the Majin Buu story arc (although it is possible that timeline 4 also leads to a similar arc, one where Goku never died in the first place). There are two time/dimensional travelers who interfere with this timeline: Trunks from timeline 2 and Cell from timeline 3. Cell3's travel to the past and Future Trunks'2 trip to the past create this timeline, which "replaces" timeline 4. * Cell3 arrives from the future from the Time Machine he stole from Future Trunks3 in an egg form because he couldnt fit. He hatches and burrows underground to develop. * Frieza and his father, King Cold, invade Earth to get revenge on Goku and to also destroy Earth. They are killed by Future Trunks2 who appears from the future. Future Trunks then meets Goku when he arrives on the planet and gives him the heart antidote/medicine, from 20 years in the future; he also warns the Z Fighters about the androids, who will arrive in three years, before returning back to his timeline. * In the next few years the Z Fighters go into intense training, Trunks1 is born to Vegeta and Bulma as their first child. * Dr. Gero (aka Android 20) and Android 19 battle the Z Fighters. Goku, who didn't take Trunks' medicine/antidote, becomes sick during his fight with Android 19. Vegeta arrives and takes over, destroying 19, and Goku is taken home and given his medicine. Dr. Gero flees. * Future Trunks2 arrives back to this timeline and finds the destroyed Android 19, a robot he's never seen before. He begins to realize that this timeline is starting to branch off considerably from his. * Dr. Gero escapes back to his lab and awakens Androids 17 and 18 who then proceed to kill him. They go on to activate Android 16. * The Z Fighters are defeated by 17 and 18, but none are killed. * Future Trunks3' time machine from timeline 3 (used by Cell3) is found, along with Cell's shed skin. * Cell3, now fully grown, starts razing cities and absorbing the people to raise his power. * Piccolo fuses with Kami and battles against Cell3. Cell tells Piccolo about who he is, why he's here, and how he got to this timeline. Cell escapes after Future Trunks2 and Krillin arrive on the scene to aid Piccolo. * Piccolo hunts for Cell3 while Future Trunks2 and Krillin go to Gero's underground lab to destroy Cell1 while he's still gestating. While there, Future Trunks2 finds blueprints for the androids which he gives to Krillin to take to Bulma. * To become stronger, Vegeta and Future Trunks2 train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. * Piccolo, unable to find Cell, is confronted by the androids. He decides to attempt to destroy them in order to prevent Cell from absorbing them and becoming stronger. * During Piccolo's battle against Android 17, Bulma contacts Krillin telling him that she's created an emergency shutdown device based on Gero's blueprints. It has a range of 10 meters so Krillin rushes to intercept her and obtain the control device to deactivate and destroy the androids. Cell3 detects Piccolo's raised ki and deduces that he's battling an android; Cell rushes to the scene to absorb the androids and complete his development. * Cell3 interrupts Piccolo and 17's fight, quickly dispatching Picclo and nearly absorbing 17 before Android 16 intervenes. Cell and 16 fight relatively evenly, but in the end Cell manages a surprise attack that allows him to absorb 17 and become Semi-Perfect Cell. Cell proceeds to easily deal critical damage to Android 16 and is going to absorb 18 but is halted temporarily by Tien Shinhan, allowing 16 and 18 to escape. Goku quickly arrives on the scene and rescues Piccolo and Tien before retreating again. * Vegeta and Trunks emerge from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, letting Goku and Gohan enter. Vegeta battles against Cell and is clearly dominant in the fight. While they are fighting Krillin approaches Android 18 with the shutdown device, but is captivated by the beautiful android and destroys the remote. Vegeta quickly becomes arrogant with his power and gives Cell leave to absorb 18 to attain his perfect form. * Cell finds 18 and fuses with her, becoming Perfect Cell; he then goes on to defeat Vegeta and Trunks. Cell decides to hold a tournament, the Cell Games, in ten days to test his new abilities. * Goku and Gohan emerge from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Trunks, Vegeta and Piccolo all use the room before the tournament starts. Goku recruits Dende to serve as the Earth's new god and reactivate the Dragon Balls. * The Cell Games start and Goku fights with Perfect Cell. Goku eventually forfeits the match and chooses his son Gohan fight instead. * Gohan fights Perfect Cell and, after eventually being provoked into transforming into the Super Saiyan 2 stage, delivers a fierce set of hits to Cell, causing him to regurgitate Android 18 and transform back into his semi-perfect form. * Semi-Perfect Cell attempts to destroy the Earth by self-destruction, but Goku sacrifices himself to teleport Semi-Perfect Cell from the Earth to King Kai's planet. Cell explodes, killing Goku and the kai. Cell's regenerative organ miraculously remains intact, allowing him to regrow himself. Cell returns to Earth, stronger then ever and kills Future Trunks2, but is defeated for good by Gohan. * Future Trunks2 is revived by a wish made to Shenron, and returns to his timeline. * The rest of Dragon Ball Z happens. Timeline 2: Future Trunks This is the timeline belonging to Future Trunks and depicted in a few chapters of the manga. The first part of this timeline, common to timeline 3, is also depicted in the TV special, "The History of Trunks". In this one, Future Trunks goes back in time to the main timeline (1) and returns with enough power to kill both the androids and Cell. This timeline can be seen as the "improved" version of timeline 3, which was the "first version" of the timeline for Future Trunks3. Thanks to Cell3's trip to the past in timeline 3, this timeline and later timeline 1 were created. In order to defeat Cell3 in timeline 1, Future Trunks increased his power and was able to destroy the Cell from this timeline when he went back to his future in this timeline. * Frieza and King Cold invade Earth and are defeated by Goku. * Goku dies from heart disease, Trunks is born. * Dr. Gero activates Androids 17 and 18. They kill him and then proceed to kill all of the other Z Fighters except for Gohan. Gohan becomes a Super Saiyan. * Over a course of thirteen years Gohan challanges the androids alone but can't defeat them. * Gohan trains Trunks, but is eventually killed by the androids. Trunks attempts to avenge Gohan but is badly beaten. * Bulma builds a time machine to send Trunks to the past with the hopes of finding someway to destroy the androids. Trunks takes medicine to cure Goku's heart condition with him. * Trunks goes back in time to timeline 1. He returns after killing Frieza1, giving Goku the medicine, and warning the Z Fighters about the androids. * Trunks goes back in time again to help the Z Fighters in timeline 1 to combat the androids, and later Cell3. * Trunks returns from timeline 1 more powerful as a result of his battles and training while there. He quickly finds and kills androids 17 and 18 with little effort. * Trunks kills the newly emerged Cell, knowing about Cell's plan to kill him and go back in time (see timeline 3). * Earth slowly rebuilds its cities as peace comes to its inhabitants. This timeline is continued in the game Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road Timeline 3: Cell This timeline follows the same path as timeline 2, but diverges on Future Trunks' second return from the past as in this timeline, Trunks returned with the android blueprints, not the massive powerup. The androids were destroyed, but Trunks wasn't powerful enough to combat Cell. Cell ended up killing Trunks and using his time machine to go back in time to find the androids. This can be seen as the "original" timeline, as it no time traveller arrives to this timeline from a different future. It is also the worst-case scenario timeline, as even Trunks ends up dead in the end. This timeline was actually the first "version" of timeline 2; timeline 2 "replaced" this timeline because of Cell's trip to the past. * Frieza and King Cold invade Earth and are defeated by Goku. It should be noted, however, that Cell mentioned to Piccolo that Dr. Gero's supercomputer would have copied Trunk's data had it not been for the fact that they already have more than enough Saiyan data to infuse Cell with. This would imply that either it was actually Future Trunks who had killed Frieza and King Cold in that timeline, which is a major inconsistency, or, rather, it could mean that the supercomputer observed Trunks as a baby. However, the anime flashback implies that it was when Trunks killed Frieza and King Cold. Also, in the same flashback, Cell mentioned that he was barely able to collect genetic information from Frieza before "He met his end at the hands of Trunks." * Goku dies from heart disease, Trunks is born. * Dr. Gero activates Androids 17 and 18. They kill him and then proceed to kill all of the other Z Fighters except for Gohan. Gohan becomes a Super Saiyan. * Over a course of thirteen years Gohan challanges the androids alone but can't defeat them. * Gohan trains Trunks, but is eventually killed by the androids. Trunks attempts to avenge Gohan but is badly beaten. * Bulma builds a time machine to send Trunks to the past with the hopes of finding someway to destroy the androids. Trunks takes medicine to cure Goku's heart condition with him. * Trunks goes back in time to timeline 4 (which is created because of this trip). He returns after killing Frieza4, giving Goku4 the medicine, and warning the Z-Fighters4 about the androids. * Trunks goes back in time again to help the Z-Fighters4 in timeline 4 to combat the androids. * Trunks returns from the past with blueprints for the androids. Bulma uses the blueprints to create a device which destroys or deactivates the androids. * Cell emerges and, realizing the androids are gone, decides to use Trunks' time machine to go back in time and find the androids in the past. Cell ambushes and kills Trunks, gets the time machine and goes to the year 763. This creates timeline 2 (and indirectly, timeline 1, which is created by Trunks2' trip to the past). * Both Cell and the androids are gone, so Earth starts to rebuild itself. Timeline 4: Unseen No characters from this timeline are ever seen. This is the timeline where Future Trunks3 originally went to from timeline 3, and it is what timeline 1 would have been if only Future Trunks3 had gone back in time, but not Cell3. This timeline can be seen as the first "version" of timeline 1. As timeline 3 is the "original" timeline, timeline 4 is the first alternate timeline ever created, by the first time travel ever done. * Frieza and his father, King Cold, invade Earth to get revenge on Goku. They are killed by Future Trunks3 who appears from the future. Future Trunks3 then meets Goku when he arrives on the planet and gives him the heart medicine; he also warns the Z Fighters about the androids, who will arrive in three years, before returning to his future. * Future Trunks3 returns to this timeline, and the Z Fighters find a way to defeat the androids (probably using their blueprints). * Future Trunk3 leaves back to timeline 3 to deactivate the future androids. Character summary Character(s) Timeline 1 2 3 4 Frieza and King Cold Killed by Future Trunks2 Killed by Goku (though Cell may have implied that Future Trunks was actually responsible, which is a contradiction) Killed by Future Trunks3 Goku See Goku Died from heart disease Likely lived thanks to antidote from Trunks3 Trunks See Trunks See Future Trunks Killed by Cell Unknown Other Z Fighters See respective biographies Killed by androids Likely lived since Goku lived and the Androids in that timeline didn't seek to kill the rest of the Z-fighters, like in the main timeline, and because the Androids were deactivated. Androids 17 and 18 Absorbed by Cell3 but eventually freed and reformed; see Android 17 and Android 18 Killed by Future Trunks in combat Disabled and destroyed with device based on blueprints obtained by Trunks in timeline 4 Likely destroyed by device made based on blueprints Cell Killed as a fetus by Future Trunks2 and Krillin Killed by Trunks2 in failed ambush Killed by Gohan1 in timeline 1 Unknown, likely killed by Future Trunks3 and Krillin as a fetus like in timeline 1, as the android's blueprints were next to him Inconsistencies There are several inconsistencies, plot holes or unexplained events in the timelines described above. They include the following: * Since Cell3 created a new universe with his trip (timeline 2), and then Future Trunks2 created a new universe based on timeline 2 with his trip (timeline 1), Cell3 should have surfaced after getting out of the time machine and re-growing from his larva stage in timeline 2, in year 767, just like he did in timeline 1. However, there Future Trunks2 clearly doesn't know about Cell3 appearing in his timeline. (There is an explanation for the whereabouts of the native Cell of timeline two, which has nothing to do with Cell3). * Cell3 travelled back in time to year 763, according to him, because that was the year that was programmed on the machine. But if Future Trunks3's story is similar to Future Trunks2's story, he was about to use the machine to tell the Z-Fighters from timeline 4 that he had defeated the androids in his universe. However, there is no reason for Future Trunks3 to go to the year 763 to do that; nobody knew him at that time, as his first trip was to year 764. There is no explanation given for that year. Other numerous timelines Numerous Dragon Ball publications ignore the events of manga canonicity and tell stories that usually conflict with the canonical sagas. Although unverified, a reasonable explanation may be that these story arcs are part of different timelines. However, it is unknown how these timelines were created, since one cannot attribute most of them to time travel. Such contradictory publications include: * The four Dragon Ball movies: Curse of the Blood Rubies, Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle, Mystical Adventure, and The Path to Power. * Dragon Ball Z movie 1, Dead Zone * Dragon Ball Z movie 2, The World's Strongest * Dragon Ball Z movie 3, The Tree of Might * Dragon Ball Z movie 4, Lord Slug * Dragon Ball Z movie 6, Return of Cooler (movie 5, Cooler's Revenge, is not necessarily contradictory; see canonicity section for more info.) * Dragon Ball Z movie 7, Super Android 13! * Dragon Ball Z movie 10, Broly: Second Coming (movie 8, Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan is not necessarily contradictory; see canonicity section for more info.) * Dragon Ball Z movie 11, Bio-Broly (film) * Dragon Ball Z movie 12, Fusion Reborn * The OAV 'Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans' * Various 'what-ifs' and side-stories in video games such as: ** Budokai Tenkaichi ** Budokai Tenkaichi 2 ** Budokai Tenkaichi 3 ** Budokai ** Super Butōden 2 ** Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden ** Dragon Ball Z: Kyôshū! Saiyan One of the above examples is movie #12, Fusion Reborn. In this movie, Goku and Vegeta work together in Other World to defeat Janemba while on Earth the Z fighters (including Gohan) combat all of the souls that have escaped from Hell, including Frieza, the Ginyu Force, and The Dictator (with his entire army). However, Goku and Vegeta are both dead. In the main series timeline, Vegeta was only dead for a day or so during the Buu fight, and Goku was occupied during that time, either on Earth with Buu, or on the planet of the Supreme Kai, watching Gohan train and then fighting Buu. Goku was also restored to life during the period of Vegeta's death, and Vegeta was allowed to return to fight Buu shortly thereafter, so the period of time that they were both dead was even more brief than the period of Vegeta's time in Other World. Also, the state of events on Earth in the movie makes it clear that there is no turmoil on the planet other than that caused by the movie's plot, which was certainly not the case at the time Vegeta was dead. References * Volumes 28-35 of the Dragon Ball manga *''Dragon Ball'' Daizenshuu No. 7 See also * Dragon Ball timeline External links * Map and explanation of the timelines Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Trunks Saga Category:Androids Saga Category:Imperfect Cell Saga Category:Perfect Cell Saga Category:Cell Games Saga Category:Events